Bruce Schneier, a security technologist who has worked with journalists and analyzed documents from National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, was asked to give a private briefing to a few members of Congress.

The answers given by Attorney General Eric Holder during his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee this afternoon certainly make it appear like his decision to recuse himself was a gutless decision, one he made because he knew when the press discovered the Associated Press had their phone records secretly seized they would be collectively outraged.

Attorney General Eric Holder will be testifying before the House Judiciary Committee this morning. Recent attention to the seizure of the Associated Press’ telephone records and the targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS has increased the significance of Holder’s appearance before the committee this morning.

In a column recently published by POLITICO, Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist and American Civil Liberties Union’s Laura Murphy write, “In the age of the Internet, your privacy is not Fourth Amendment safe. Government agents cannot tap your phone without a warrant issued by a judge based on some indication you are involved in wrongdoing, but the government claims the authority to read your emails without a warrant. The government can’t open your postal mail or seize papers from your home without a warrant, but it says it can read any private and sensitive documents you’ve stored in the Internet ‘cloud.’”

For over a month now, members of Congress have been engaged in a bipartisan offensive against “leaks.” The offensive was launched after details on Obama’s “kill list,” cyber warfare against Iran, and the CIA underwear bomb plot sting operation in Yemen became public information. The offensive yielded the appointment by Attorney General Eric Holder of two US attorneys to investigate two of the “leaks” (no attorney was appointed to investigate how details on a covert drone program were released) yet this has not satisfied politicians. Congress people from both the Democratic and Republican Party in the US continue to introduce and speak out in favor of proposals to clamp down on the free flow of information.

When the House Judiciary Committee adjourned without a final vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act, the expectation was that they wouldn’t take up the matter again until next year. HJC Chairman Lamar Smith appeared to agree to allow technical experts give testimony on the implications of the bill to the Internet’s architecture, particularly the Domain Name System. But quietly, Smith announced a resumption of the markup for this Wednesday, at a time when Congress may not even be in session.

The House Judiciary Committee abruptly adjourned today without completing work on the Stop Online Piracy Act, an unexpected twist in the high stakes battle between Hollywood content providers and leading Internet companies.

The markup in the House Judiciary Committee of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, has begun. Observers expect at least two days of markups, and the bill wouldn’t see the House floor until sometime thereafter, probably next year. There are over 60 amendments on the bill, and opponents on the committee are dragging out the proceedings. Rep. Zoe Lofgren refused to waive the reading of the bill, so Judiciary staffers needed to spend an hour doing that.

Understand that this bill is getting a hearing, and a markup, because very wealthy interests want it to pass. It so happens that very wealthy interests want it to fail, but that puts it on the agenda as well, because both sides can go to their funders and raise money off the threat of the bill passing or failing. This becomes a bonanza for K Street lobbyists. There are over 1,000 of them working on SOPA.

Responding to pressure from Internet giants and a growing coalition of activists, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) amended his legislation on Internet copyrights yesterday, rolling back some of the more dangerous elements. A HJC markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, will take place this Thursday, but SOPA critics are not yet satisfied.